how'd you start?

[BettaBoyz]

this is for new and old alike! how'd your fishkeeping start? when? d'you think you'll keep it up for years and years, or d'you think it'll die like the Tamagotchi craze?

me, it started when i was like four. my dad set up his fifty gallon, finally not worrying if i'd drown myself in it. Neons and Ghost Shrimp. whoop. of course that died off fast, but the same year he'd started a Kuhlii/Guppy operation in a seven gallon in my room that he also dissassembled (i kept taking the Kuhliis out )) and then when i was around six he got me a ten gallon tank (after months of "Dad-deeeeee, I wanna fish-eeeeeeeee!") and i dumped in an oh-so tiny male/female pair of red-and-white Orandas, quickly naming them Bubbles and Goldie.

at eight, i caught a wild Minnow and plunked him into the tank. he survived for two years before being eaten. then Goldie died by an over-feed my brother did, and Bubbles died of being bitten by my cat. everything was stowed away.

four years later and i wanted fish as a decoration for my room. i danced over a pair of Green Puffers, an Angelfish/Guppy/Albino Cory setup and an Oscar (which i have, and regret buying -sigh-) finally i said "I want those wormy things I had before," so we got three teeny-tiny inch long Kuhliis and a Betta. into the tank they went, fifteen minutes after it was set up. a week later a female Betta joined them, she was killed. another week and nine Tetras joined them, three died. then i got another Betta, who died after getting himself wedged into a pot. then another Betta who's still with me. then an African Dwarf Frog, three Platties, an Oscar. the Tetras are gone, and soon the Platties will number five and the Oscar... i don't know what'll happen to him. perhaps i'll tell my dad i'd like his fifty gallon for the Oscar, my dad does like them.

 

[semper fi]

my husband brought home an aquarium that he had had at his parents house. i was not thrilled at having fish since i knew that the novelty would soon wear off. yup it did and i got the task of taking care of the fish. since my daughter was real young and i was a stay at home mom, i looked up the fish on the internet. got a little interested. went to a couple of forums, one where i met cichlidmaster, and many years later, i now am a mod on two boards, started a fish club at the school and incorporate aquariums into my interior designs.

the old tank? it is one of my smaller ones now. the largest being a 180 with about 700 gallons of water total in the house. still strying to figure out where the next one is going.

 

[kevy]

When I was about ten we had a couple fire bellied toads and we were told they would eat guppies. I bought a dozen and added them to the toad tank (2 inches of water). A couple weeks later they breed and I was amazed. During the next few years I would go fly fishing every couple days, which kept me interested in fish. Then in eighth grade I did a science fair project on how fish (shiners) react to different structures. Now three years later I started up because of another school project. The project triggered a lot more fish interests and I now have quite a few tanks for myself.

 

[canis_lupus]

my addiction started when i was ten but at that time it wasn't really an addiction......i had a 10 gallon tank that saw way 2 many fish in 2 years! my greatest feat was breeding and raising 5 guppies! sadly my betta ate them all and then he died soon my pleco was a foot long and my mom got sick of cleaning the tank so the fish went to a friend and the tank went into storage. sometime in the spring of 2003 i got another betta who sadly died....he was very very sick when we got him :'( in august i set up my tank again then got a female betta who got ick from being stressed out from the other fish so i put her in her own little tank. then i got a male betta and a tank for him.....not long after i set up a second 10 gal and bought 2 other bettas!!!!!! and only 2 days ago i gave my guppies and platies away :'( to make room for new fish

and that is the story of my life

 

[Where the river goes]

It was a completely spontaneous decision. I was at wal-mart and stopped by the fish section, which I would periodically do just to look at the fish. I looked at the tanks and bought a 1 gallon tank...I only had enough for that at the moment, looking back I should have done more research instead of buying spontaneously. 7 weeks later and plenty of cycling mistakes, I scrapped that tank and bought a 2.5 gallon tank, then another 2.5 gallon tank two weeks later. Both of which are currently cycling.

 

[Lithril]

My parents had a pick 6' tank (which they looked after) when I was 12. Started for a few years with the usual neons, danios, pleco etc. Then after a couple of years we bought some tiger oscars ended up with 2 tiger oscars abou 14" long and a pleco over 16" long. Another couple of years and the fish got sold and then the tank.

I bought MY first 10 gal tank about a year ago and after everything went horribly wrong the tank lay empty till about august this year when I thought I'd give it another stab. Started the tank up, found this forum - the start of my addiction, within a month I had a second 30 gal tank and now a 3rd (15gal) is due to arrive on Tuesday

Currently have 10 gal: White Mountain Minnows, Peppered Cories, Ancistrus, Popondettas, 30 gal: Colomesus Puffers, Ottos.

Next tank aim: Transfer White Mountain Minnows and Cories into new tank and get a Betta. Buy some chain loaches and more popondettas for the 10 gal

 

[Cstratton7]

great stories guys....when i was little i was lucky enough that my dad had a 90 gal. tank and he knew for the most part what he was doing. He let me and my sister pick out fish and put them in. Of course we always got goldfish cuz my dad didn't want to lose any money on an expensive fish....Needless to say i was really little and didn't know any better when dad asked me if i'd ever use the tank again.(that was when it had been dissasembled for about 4 years and i was about 12.) We gave it to one of my friends, and they gave it to a relative of theirs in texas, and it is now home to piranhas... All i was left with was my 1 gal tank wich i kept tetras and minnows in off and on. Eventually i bought a ten gallon tank and then eventually i got a 20 gal., and i am now having my uncle build me a stand for my 75 gal. i'm going to buy when i get my drumset sold.!!!

 

[KnuckleHead]

Actually it all started with my wife. She was given a 20g hex tank with 2 angels. Caring for those 2 is where my love of angels originated. We lost power for a few days and lost the fish. Wife was heartbroken and didnt want to deal with the tank anymore. I took it at that point and placed 1 black moor in it. That guy grew huge and had such a personality. From that point on my addiction just grew and grew to what it is today. Sure I had tanks before then but I was just a youngster with more important things on my mind, like girls!!!

 

[Rhapsody]

I'm very new to the fishkeeping world, but anyways...

Ever since I was really little I have loved aquariums. There was just something about them that fascinated me.
Of course, like many other kids, I went through quite a few goldfish (won from the fair). They never lived very long...probably a few weeks if that. I actually had one guy live for a year. Anyway, I figured I just wasn't capable of keeping fish.

Then my friend got a betta. I thought he was really cute, but I was determined I wouldn't be able to keep one. She finally convinced me that keeping bettas was very easy...and of course, when I saw a pretty red betta looking all sad in a teeny cup at Petco, I just had to give it a try. So I set up a one gallon and plopped the betta in (yep, on the first day...I know...bad.) Things went well and I couldn't believe how much personality this fish had.
I randomly took my dog into petco about two months later and instantly fell in love with this gorgeous multicolored betta. I HAD to have him. So I set up a five gallon and bought the fish. Not long after, I bought a second five gallon for the first fish.

Then I fell in love with those little aquatic frogs...so after some research, I purchased two african clawed frogs. Because they were just little babies, I kept them in the one gallon. I sadly lost one, but the other is doing fine and very slowly growing larger. I just recently bought him a very nice 2.5 gallon that has plenty of room for him to swim around in until he gets bigger.

At first, I didn't think I could actually handle taking care of a bigger tank with different types of fish...I tried to research and kept thinking it was too complicated...but researching animals on the computer is one of my favorite things to do (I know, I'm weird) and suddenly a whole new world was opened up to me, filled with tons of things to learn and study. Everyone tells me now that they couldn't keep a tank because you have to take so many things into consideration (tank size, fish type...what fish get along with what, etc.), but that's what I love about the hobby.

Then came the ten gallon...I was absolutely dying to set up a bigger tank, especially since my two bettas (and frog) were doing so well after several months of me keeping them...so when I came across a ten gallon being sold for $5 at a garage sale, I grabbed it. It's been set up for two months now and I'm not even finished stocking it yet.

I'm already trying to figure out where to put a 29 gallon...it's very likely I'll be getting one soon...and I have been keeping a close eye on the paper, looking at 55 gallons and larger.

I'm quite sure I will never be without an aquarium from here on out. I may be new, but I sure as heck am hooked.

 

[Braddah]

My dad had a 10gal or somethin set up when I was younger with some goldfish and a kuli loach (I just got 3 for my 20gal....Thanx dad) I forget when the tank finally got dismantled. When I was about 12 we inherited a 75gal? terripin set-up. Wasnt all that thrilled at first. but it grew on me. I ended up killing one of out turtles with a locust (story for another time). Well then about 10years went by and this last spring I wanted a pet. I lived in the Navy barracks at the time so any mammal of reptile of bird was out....that left Fish! I started with a 20gal. and set it up and went to Walmart that same day and got 2gourami's 2 serpea tetras and a common plec.

All the fish made it through the cycle and the overstocking and all the newbie mistakes. Unfortunatley both gouramis died (one due to losing an eye...the other to a cancer) Now I have the original 20 all natural with a sand substrate and a 55gal that is in the conversion process to sand right now. Plus a 10 gal. with a comet in it (dont know what to do with it?) A another 20 that I got like 2 weeks b4 the 55 that I think I'm going to make a terrerium out of seeing as I m not allowed any more "fish" tanks

 

[juanveldez]

well lets see I started when I was 10 and I had a very very little knowlege to keep that one going and with a faulty heater I in the end boiled all of my fish, went many many years with out a tank, then my wife told me about her parents used to have a 55 in the basement and so I brought it up and we started it up but still my knowlege was very very limited and I lost 4 oscars before I realized that I was being dumb and so I let it sit there for a few weeks with nothing but my pelco in it and ended up getting some baby red bellied pirhanas and it just snowballed from there

 

[freshmike]

I got a 10g from my mom for Christmas when I was 21...loved it! Got a huge never ending algae bloom....that was frustrating!!!! Then I bought a 5.5 (then I had 2 tanks!!! WAHOOEE!!!)

About 2 years later I moved to good ole Calgary and within a couple of months I traded the 10 for a 20 and sold the 5.5.............and to make a long story short>>>>>>>I met my neighbor about 1.5 years ago, he has a 70g and a 60g and a 20 sw....needless to say I fell in love with the cichlids in his 70g and decided to buy a 90g....and that is how it all began!!! 14 tanks and counting!!!

The neighbor now wants me to take his 20g saltwater.....I am pretty excited about it!

 

[bgraber]

My earliest memories/fish stories stem from a fateful day in which 3 y.o me took the nice "beta phi kappa",<-- was what I called it, for a walk I remember my dad having a nasty little Jack Dempsey as well.. ANd maybe an angel or two.. But we never really kept fish during my adolescence. i kept everything else tho! Rabbits, guinea pigs, lizards, crabs, turtles, you name it My litle bro once climbed onto our clothes hamper to reach his hand down into my American Chameleon(Green Anole) tank and pick him up. Lizard bit his tumb and he fell backwards off hte hamper knock this big plant over and making a huge mess! Last time he did that! lol. Not really a fish story but sorta relates

 

[aquamanis]

My family lived in Malaysia for 3 years when Dad was in the airforce. I was 15 at the time and it was the first time I had seen tropical fish. I was immediately taken by all the colours and shapes of the different species. We bought a 4 foot tank and stocked it with guppies, silver sharks and tiger barbs and neons which didn,t last too long. We didn,t know anything about stocking levels or compatibility but the other fish must have been happy because the guppies bred quite frequently. It was 20 years before I setup my next tank. I tore my bicep and wasn,t able to play golf which is my biggest passion for 3 months. I became bored and was getting down on myself because I couldn,t do anything. I had recently aquired 2x 4 foot tanks at work (I,m a secondhand dealer) complete with filters heaters stands, gravel etc. After a visit to a mates house who has 5 large cichlid tanks I became interested in fish again and thought bugger it, I,ll take one tank home and muck about with it. I killed 10 fish learning the hardway about cycling then came across this forum. 3 months later and $800 poorer I find myself spending countless hours aquiring all the information I can on fish, plants and the like. I go home and instead of watching the tv I,m fidling with bits in the tank, trimming plants etc. I don,t think I,ve watched more than 2 hours tv in any night, I,m normally staring at the tank. My bicep has healed now but the aquarium bug has bitten big time. I,m now saving for my next tank, a 400-500lt corner unit.